Puggaree:
Associated with SX126 Sergeant W S Osborne-White. He served at
Kantara, Egypt, with 2/2 Australian General Hospital. He later
served with 2/14 Australian General Hospital.

The hat band of the
Australian slouch hat is called a 'puggaree'. It has previously
been spelt 'pugari', ' puggery' and 'puggari'. It is from an
Indian (Hindi) word 'paggari' or 'pagri' which translates into
something like small turban. One school of thought has it that
the folds of the traditional Australian puggaree come from
copying the British Indian Army's attempt to make the puggari
look a little like a turban, even if only in stylised form.

This is the top view of a civilian
hat of a style from the middle to late 1800's with a pugari. As can
be seen it is possible to lower the scarf part of the pugari to
cover the back of the neck.

At one stage this hat belonged to Marcus Clarke

WW1 & early WW2 era plain woolen hat
band

Late WW2 to current folded puggaree.

The foldsare
normally set so that they face up with the broad band on the
bottom. The puggaree is at it's highest point on the left and
right sides and it's lowest point on the front and back.see
below

There have been occasions
where the broad band is to the top. This is not common.see
below

Slouch hat puggaree. Made by ADA in
1997 Size 56.

Note what
appears to be a smaller variation between lowest point and highest.

White cotton six pleat puggareeWorn
by 3961 Corporal James Hamilton Welch. Welch was born in September
1927 and enlisted in the Australian Military Forces on 4 March 1946.
With the rank of Corporal he was posted to Japan on 15 October 1946
with 66 Australian Infantry Battalion as part of the British
Commonwealth Occupation Force. He was promoted to Sergeant while
serving with 66 Bn and returned to Australia on 5 September 1947. He
then served during the Korean War with A Company, 1 Battalion, Royal
Australian Regiment from 3 March 1952 to 20 January 1953. On 11
April of that year he was promoted to Lieutenant. He again served
overseas in New Guinea with the Pacific Islands Regiment from 4
September 1955 to 10 January 1957. Welch continued to serve with the
army and retired with the rank of Major.

Size & number of
folds in an Australian puggaree

Date

Folds (pleats)

Size at front and back

Size at side

1885

Plaited leather (3 plaits)

38mm (1½ inches)

38mm (1½ inches)

1890

5 pleats (folds)

64mm (2½ inches)

76mm (3 inches)

1903

7 pleats

38mm (1½ inches)

64mm (2½ inches)

1912

no fold hat band

51 mm (2 inches)

51 mm (2 inches)

WW1

no fold hat band

51 mm (2 inches)

51 mm (2 inches)

WW2

no fold hat band

51 mm (2 inches)

51 mm (2 inches)

195?

6 pleats

not recorded

not recorded

1967

5 pleats

38mm (1½ inches)

64mm (2½ inches)

2002

7 pleats

38mm (1½ inches)

64mm (2½ inches)

As with the 7 points on the
Federation Star the 7 pleats on the puggaree are meant to
represent 1 for each of the 6 States and 1 to represent the
Territories.

Some puggarees over the years have
been less regimented than the current models.

The colours of
puggarees and hat bands

Date

Unit/s

Colour

1855

Victorian Mounted Rifles

Khaki

1890

NSW Cavalry

Red

Field Artillery NSW

Dark blue

Engineers NSW

Blue and red

Mounted Infantry NSW

...

White

1st Regt NSW Infantry

Light drab

2nd Regt NSW Infantry

Green and drab

3rd Regt NSW Infantry

Purple & drab (later purple & scarlet)

4th Regt NSW Infantry

Yellow and red

Medical Staff Corps NSW

Dark drab

Reserves NSW

...

White

General Staff NSW

Blue and fawn

Permanent Staff NSW

Blue

1894

1st Regt NSW Infantry

Blue with white fold

2nd Regt NSW Infantry

Green with white fold

3rd Regt NSW Infantry

Blue with red fold

4th Regt NSW Infantry

Blue with yellow fold

1896

Irish Rifles NSW

Lincoln green & two green stripes

St George Rifles NSW

Royal blue with buff stripes

Australian Rifles NSW

Green with one white stripe

1897

1st Australian Horse

Black

1899

Boer War Troops

Khaki

1903

Light Horse

Khaki & white centre fold

Artillery

Khaki & Blue centre fold

Engineers

Khaki & Red centre fold

Infantry

Khaki & Dark green centre fold

Army Service Corps

Khaki & White centre fold

Army Medical Corps

Khaki & Chocolate centre fold

Army Ordnance Corps

Khaki & Blue centre fold

Veterinary Department

Khaki & Maroon centre fold

Volunteer Infantry (except Scottish)

Khaki & Dark green centre fold

1908

All units remained as 1903 and added

Australian Intelligence Corps

Khaki &Pale
blue centre fold

1912

Light Horse

...

White

Artillery

Scarlet

Engineers

Dark blue

Infantry

Green

Signals

Royal purple

Army Service Corps

White with blue centre stripe

Medical Corps

Chocolate

Veterinary Corps

Maroon

Army Ordnance Corps

Blue with red centre stripe

Army Legal Department

French grey

Australian Intelligence Corps

Pale blue

Automobile Corps

Brown (leather hat band)

WW1

All Arms and Services (AIF)

Khaki (6 Lt Horse; wallaby fur bands)

1930

Light Horse

Khaki with maroon fold

Artillery

Blue with scarlet fold

Engineers

Blue with garter blue fold

Signals

Blue with purple fold

Army Service Corps

Blue with white fold

Army Medical Corps

Khaki with dull cherry fold

Army Veterinary Corps

Khaki with maroon fold

Army Ordnance Corps

Khaki with blue, scarlet and blue folds

Tank Corps

Green, scarlet and brown folds

Infantry

Khaki with green and scarlet folds

Sydney University Rifles

Blue with yellow folds

Melbourne Rifles

Black with blue folds

WW2

All Arms and Services (2nd AIF)

Khaki

1948

All Arms and Services

Khaki (sand)

1957

1st Bn Royal Australian Regiment
(1RAR)

Jungle green

Current

Unchanged from 1948/1957

Khaki (sand)

1930's puggaree,
possibly Engineers

Rosettes on the
slouch hat

Rosettes were first worn on the
slouch hat, as a background to the hat badge, in the 1890s. The
various colours used at that time are not known to me.

The Defence Act of 1903 ...
badges were backed with a distinctive cloth rosette in the corps or
regimental colour.

Field Artillery

Service Corps

white

Garrison Arty

Medical Corps

chocolate

Engineers

red

Veterinary Dept

maroon

Infantry

black

Ordnance Corps

blue

This rosette was worn by
the (British) Imperial Yeomanry, behind the badges on their slouch hats.
We can assume that Australia followed suit in thedesign.

With the raising of the 1st AIF
in 1914 further standardisation occurred. Plain, NO FOLDkhaki
woolen hat bands were adopted, ...

<<<McDougall
VC.His
slouch hat has the no fold woolen hat band but you can see that it
has a top and bottom ridge line.

Although the white-striped folded
puggaree worn by militia light horse units had been replaced by the
plain khaki band, AIF light horse units were later allowed to wear
the original; evidence of its use can be seen inperiod photographs.

Approval was later rescinded;
directions for AIF units to adopt a plain khaki puggaree soon
followed (and were ignored in many cases).

Enlistment details: Enlisted on 22nd December
1915 at 22. Listed as single, a farmer who gave his address (on
enlisting) as 94 Liverpool Street, Paddington, NSW. He enlisted
with the the 1st L.H.R (15-20th Reinforcements March - July
1916)

Embarkation: On 12th May 1916 from Sydney on
theHMAT Anglo
Egyption (A25)andat
some point transferring to the Camel Corp of the 3rd Anzac Bn.,
returning to Australia on 9th August 1916. It would seem that
given the short length of time overseas he was either wounded or
contracted some form of illness.

This is the method
used to insert a coloured stripe in the puggaree. This is possibly
an Australian Intelligence Corps hat & puggaree.

Note the 4 fold puggaree on the
slouch hat of Corporal Sydney Cossart of the Queensland Mounted
Infantry who took part in the relief of Mafeking. He later served at
the siege at Elands River.

c.1917.13238
Driver Reuben Griffin, K Supply Column, 5th Motor Transport Company.
Note the pleated puggaree on the hat at a time when , supposedly,
the folded puggaree was not in use.(Donor
S. Reilly)

Tropical helmet with puggaree. The
helmet is covered in cotton with a white finish.

This photo clearly shows the puggaree
with 7 folds, making 8 bands, superimposed over each other.

That
tradition started in Malaya when the regimental tailor, a Mr.
Mohavved Beseek, working to a

deadline and with no
khaki material available made some out of green, British army shirt
material he had to hand. The then CO of 1RAR determined that the
green puggaree was to remain a 1RAR uniform item.

It is worth noting that
although a puggaree is a hat band, not every hat band is a
puggaree. The woven leather hat bands worn in the Boer War do
not qualify as a puggaree and if you were pedantic about it
neither would the wallaby fur bands or the plain woolen bands.

Strictly speaking to be
called a puggaree the cloth must be folded.

RAAF puggaree, possibly late
1980s.

Puggarees on
female headwear

Khaki fur felt hat with 5 fold cotton
puggaree.A
colour patch for 2/6 Australian General Hospital is sewn on the
right side of the puggaree. The leather sweatband is marked 'N.S.E.
85N' at the back and stamped 'V.235 6 7/8 1942' on the left. The
inside of the crown is marked in ink with 'EGLINTON'. A leather chin
strap with square metal buckles is attached to the sweatband.

Leather hat band with Rising Sun
badge on female khaki fur felt hat associated with VX91679 Corporal
Valerie M Bracher who enlisted in the Australian Army Medical
Women's Service (AAMWS). During World War 2 she served with 115
Australian General Hospital (AGH) at Heidelburg, Victoria, and 2/1
AGH in New Guinea and Darwin. At the end of the war she was attached
to 107 AGH also in Darwin.